Tag Archives: Science to Achieve Results

US Environmental Protection Agency funding opportunities

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a couple of funding opportunities for some new centers. The first one I’m going to mention is the call for Centers for Material Life Cycle Safety. From the Jan. 3, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications for an interdisciplinary center focused on the application of a life cycle perspective towards the development of materials (Centers for Material Life Cycle Safety). Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-G2012-STAR-B1. Solicitation Closing Date: April 25, 2012, 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time. [emphasis mine]

Note: The term “materials” broadly refers to any and all types of chemicals, including individual chemicals, compounds, mixtures of compounds, or products. Such examples of materials include a discreet molecule, a polymer, a nanomaterial or a biochemical. [emphasis mine]

The aim of the center will be to develop methodologies and practices for materials design which applies a holistic perspective. This holistic approach to design, which considers all the stages of a material’s life cycle, provides an opportunity to produce materials which minimize, and preferably eliminate, any associated potential environmental and human health impacts that may occur during the life cycle.

You can read more about funding opportunity EPA-G2012-STAR-B1  here where, amongst other things, you’ll find out that requests for amounts exceeding $5M will not be considered. There’s a total of $10M to be awarded for the centers and the EPA anticipates awarding two grants.

The second funding opportunity announced by the US EPA is for  Centers for Sustainable Molecular Design. From the Jan. 3, 2012 news item on Nanowerk,

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as part of its Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program, is seeking applications for an interdisciplinary center focusing on the sustainable molecular design of chemicals (Centers for Sustainable Molecular Design). Funding Opportunity Number: EPA-G2012-STAR-C1. Solicitation Closing Date: April 25, 2012, 11:59:59 pm Eastern Time. [emphasis mine]

Note: The term “chemicals” broadly refers to any and all types of materials, including individual chemicals, compounds or mixtures of compounds, endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), and nanomaterials. [emphasis mine]

The aim of the center will be to develop a set of parameters and strategies that will establish design criteria regarding the properties of chemicals that will lead to the development of intrinsically less hazardous substances when compared to those currently used in society. These newly acquired criteria and design principles will direct researchers towards the generation of novel chemicals that will minimize, and preferably eliminate, associated potential environmental and human health impacts that may occur during the life cycle of that chemical. The advent of these novel chemicals and their respective discovery of correlations between a chemical’s inherent properties and their adverse impacts require the development of improved methods for the design of next generation chemicals.

You can read more about funding opportunity EPA-G2012-STAR-C1 here. Just like the Centers for Material Life Cycle Safety awards, you’ll find that requests for Centers for Sustainable Molecular Design in amounts exceeding $5M will not be considered. There’s a total of $10M to be awarded for the centers and the EPA anticipates awarding two grants.

I find it quite interesting that the study of nanomaterial life cycles in various forms is being classified as a subset of a larger topic, e.g. Material Life Cycle Safety and Sustainable Molecular Design.

New interdisciplinary programmes on nanotechnology environmental impacts and policy; new NSF graduate environmental studies funding category: nanotechnology

Coincidentally or not I’ve come across two items today about environmental studies and nanotechnology. The first concerns a new interdisciplinary programme in the environmental effects and policy implications of nanotechnology being offered jointly by Carnegie Mellon University and Howard University. From the news item on Nanowerk,

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Howard University in Washington, D.C. have received $3.15 million over the next five years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to launch a new interdisciplinary program in the environmental effects and policy implications of nanotechnology.

Funding comes from a new NSF program called the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT), which enables creation of interdisciplinary programs educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers.

“The IGERT program at Carnegie Mellon and Howard will operate at the interface of science and environmental policy to produce an environmentally and policy literate generation of nanoscience professionals with the skills needed to create novel nanotechnologies and to assess and manage environmental risks associated with nanomaterials,” said Jeanne M. VanBriesen, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Carnegie Mellon who will lead the program.

Graduate students from multiple disciplines will participate in a two-year-training program to learn the fundamentals of their core disciplines and gain proficiency in the analysis of environmental issues pertaining to nanotechnology, decision science, and policy-analysis in new nanotechnology-themed courses. Following this foundation, students will conduct research at the interface of policy and nanotechnology. Students also will participate in international laboratory exchange projects as well as internships at corporations active in nanotechnology.

I guess this is a consequence of the recent National Nanotechnology Initiative budget which dedicated more money to environmental research. In another development, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is offering fellowships for students pursuing graduate environmental study including those who want to focus on nanotechnology. From the news item on Nanowerk,

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Research (NCER), invites applications for the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Fellowships for graduate environmental study for master’s and doctoral level students.

The deadline is November 5, 2010 at 4:00 PM for receipt of paper applications, and November 5, 2010 at 11:59:59 PM ET for submittal of electronic applications via Grants.gov.

This solicitation contains several important changes from the previous solicitation. First, Social Sciences and Tribes and American Indian/Alaska Native/Pacific Islander Communitieshave been added as topic areas in response to the EPA Administrator’s priorities. Secondly, Nanotechnology has been added in response to the Assistant Administrator’s articulated vision for the Office of Research and Development.

The relevant Funding Opportunity Numbers (FON) for the nanotechnology topic is EPA-F2011-STAR-C1.

You can get more information directly from the EPA here.